


Impervious

by HeddaGab



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Angst and Humor, Canon Divergernce, F/M, Swan Queen brotp, Swanfire - Freeform, set during season 5, some Wicked Queen bickering
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-09-01
Updated: 2016-09-01
Packaged: 2018-08-12 11:33:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,017
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7933027
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HeddaGab/pseuds/HeddaGab
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Emma is having a lot of intrusive dreams lately, not allowing her to sleep. She sees Neal every night but after a while she begins to wonder: are those just dreams?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter One

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ANG_the_nerd](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ANG_the_nerd/gifts).



> Since the fic is not complete, future chapters might require a change of rating and additional tagging. The idea came to me from a theory I had formulated about Neal and his potential comeback so I played around with that.

“Emma….”

“Emma….”

“Emma…. Help me….”

The blonde woman woke up violently. Panting. Locks of her hair had stuck to her skin. She tried to reverse the state of her breathing to normal but her efforts took too long for her liking. Her eyes stayed glazed. She… She almost felt frightened… Her mouth was dry, her lips were creased and her gaze… Wouldn’t focus on anything.

_What is this? Why do you torture me?_

She stood up, went to the bathroom and looked herself in the mirror. She looked as if she had seen a ghost. And she looked tired. It was the seventh day in a row she had that exact same dream. And it was the seventh day in a row her sleep had abandoned her for good.

She splashed some cold water on her face. _Look alive girl._ After she had finished her morning routine- _it’s still fucking nighttime, I don’t know how long I can keep this up_ \- she went in the kitchen to make coffee. A bucket of coffee. She opened the fridge but nothing that could help her stomach adjust to a routine was anywhere in sight. _Fine, I’ll get a bear claw on my way to the station._

“Mom?”

A sleepy Henry was standing at the kitchen door, rubbing his eyes.

“Is everything okay?” he yawned

“Yeah kiddo, everything is fine. I just… I just got a little hungry that’s all”

“What time is it? Why are you making coffee?” Henry frowned. His mom had some weird habits all right but that was ridiculous. The few past days she was acting strange. He got worried. “Mom… Do you need me to stay over? We can spend the day together. I can miss a day of school. I’ll talk to my other mom, she’ll understand. We can do whatever you want. We can play videogames. I know you’re just itching to beat my scores, come on”

Emma took a deep breath, closed the fridge door and took Henry’s face in her palms. “Look at me kid. I’m fine. You don’t need to worry about anything. You’ll go to school as usual and I’ll go to the station. Now go back to bed, it’s too early for you. And before you say anything, I’m an adult. So no, it’s not too early for me.” She kissed his forehead and patted his backside playfully, urging him to go to his room. Henry reluctantly returned to his bed. _This isn’t over._

Emma poured a cup of hot coffee and sat down at the kitchen table. “Why now?” she whispered. Her gaze was drown to the place she kept her box. Her box of memories. She stood up, went over there and opened it.

There everything was. His image and their symbols, preserved from the world, from Storybrooke’s reality, from magic. _I did all I could._ He was smiling at her. Like he always did. A tear almost fell on the photograph she was looking at. _I really tried Neal, I don’t know what else to do, I TRIED!_ She picked up her swan necklace and let the chain tangle amongst her fingers. She brought it up on her lips and kissed it gently. As her eyes were closed, an image violently flashed in her mind. It was the Dark One’s vault. She saw the sun, the eye and the star circles being lit up and the vault began to open. She opened her eyes wide and drew a sharp breath. She left the necklace fall from her hand inside the box, closed it and put it back in a hurry. She dressed up quickly, nearly inhaled her coffee and stormed out.

“Come on Regina, pick up, pick up, pick up….PICK UP”

Emma was walking down the street frantically, with the cell in her ear annoying her senses with the repetitive mechanical sounds instead of Regina’s voice.

“…..Hello?” Regina’s voice sounded a bit harsh. She moaned a bit to get herself more alert. “Emma? What’s wrong? What time is it?” she wondered and then a thought made her wake up instantly “Is Henry okay?!”

“Yes, yes, Regina don’t worry, everything is fine with Henry. Mom and Dad will get him to school later on, I left them a note. I’m on my way to the mansion. We need to talk and we need to talk fast. Clear up your schedule”

“What? What’s wrong with you Swan? Hey, what’s going on, answer me this instant”

“Got to go Regina, be there in a sec”

“Emma…” She hung up. “God I have the feeling I’m gonna need a double espresso for this”


	2. Chapter 2

A few moments later her doorbell rang. She left her espresso cup down and moved gracefully in her satin pajamas, as gracefully as she could that was in… _6 in the morning?! Good lord._ She opened the door ready to make a sassy remark but she stopped speechless. Emma moved past her quickly and went inside. When Regina managed to self compose she said “You know you look like absolute hell right? What are you doing to yourself Emma, what is this, I need answers and I need them now”

Emma had already sat at the kitchen table and tapped her fingers nervously. “Stop that. Talk to me” Regina cupped her hand tenderly to relax her, looked into her eyes and sat down across her. “Go. And try to make it easy to follow, my mind is not at its mental peak right now’

Emma took a few breaths and when she felt she could be calm enough, she started “I haven’t been sleeping almost at all the last past few weeks. There’s a reason though Regina and I don’t know how to say it but I’m just going to say it and I need you to listen to me. I need your help on this.” Regina looked slightly suspicious but she reassured her. “It’s Neal. Regina, I see Neal in my sleep every single night. If I even try to sleep again, he’s right there, he’s always there. It started the last few days and I don’t know why. At first he was just calling my name. He was asking me for help. I thought it was myself projecting, I tried to brush it off and not deal about it but today…today I saw something else. I saw the Dark One’s vault Regina. I saw it opening, I saw the sequence. I noticed all the symbols and Neal back then had pressed the wrong one. What I’m trying to say is….I think Neal is trying to tell me something about the way he died”

“Okay okay…. I know that you’re upset right now but Emma… I don’t understand. What do you want me to do? Because from what I’m hearing all I can do is be a good friend and talk about your emotional turmoil but that’s just about it”

“No see, you don’t get it, I’m sorry, it’s my fault….God I need some sleep…Okay. When I say  I see and hear Neal in my sleep…..I really hear him. Regina I know you’re not going to believe but I think Neal communicates with me in some way. It doesn’t make sense, I know but I’m sure of it!”

“It’s okay Emma. Look, even if his soul had found a way to communicate with you due to your bond then I don’t know what more you can do to help him. Maybe reassure him that everything is fine down here? Go talk to him in his grave. His soul might find peace. Come on we’ll go together.”

“No Regina…Now I know you’ll think I’m totally crazy but…I think he’s trying to tell me there is a way to save him” Emma almost whispered at this point, she felt if she said the words out loud then the possibility of that happening could vanish at any moment.

Regina looked at her for a while and then she looked intrigued. “Okay let’s assume you are right. Why now Emma? And you know Gold has searched and searched and searched whole days in his books to find something that could bring him back. Nothing came up.”

“I know, I know…But Regina I don’t believe this is a coincidence. As for the first part, I think I have an inclination… I had to experience the Dark One’s vault by first hand in order to recognize it and be familiar with that kind of magic Regina.” Regina flinched. “I know it’s a sore spot but come on Regina, maybe something good will come out of our ordeal, I can’t pretend nothing is happening. I have to solve this”

“Okay, you said you need my help, what is it?”

“I remembered the Wraith Regina. The way it marked you. It was the same way that damned key marked Neal. The thing is… People can be brought back even if they have been marked with the Wraith’s medallion. I remember Phillip being brought back. So there is a chance Neal can be brought back too. And that’s why he’s calling out for me. Please Regina, if there’s even a chance I have to save him, I have to bring him back, I have to, I have to….” Emma squeezed Regina’s hands and pleaded desperately. Her eyes looked frantically to find a little hint of hope inside Regina’s.

“Calm down Emma” she said in a soothing voice. “I said I will help”

“I need you to tell me exactly how the Wraith works. Everything. You must know right?”

“Indeed. After it has captured the victim’s soul, it keeps it locked up into the medallion. The only way for the soul to be restored into the marked one is for a brave soul to actually find the medallion, cast out the Wraith with magic to temporarily stun it and press the mark in the victim’s chest with the victim’s marked hand. And all that by not touching the mark themselves even a little. And off course the body of the victim’s has to be viable. Even if you are right Emma, how will you do that? You have no idea where the key is and off course Neal has been dead for months. Emma… I know you miss him terribly. I do. But I don’t want to see you destroying yourself by obsessing on an impossible quest. Trust me; obsessive never leads to anything healthy. I should know, I’m the Queen of Obsession” she laughed and hoped Emma would lighten up a bit herself but to no avail. Instead she grew more intense.

“No no! There IS a chance Regina, there is, there is! That’s why Neal is calling me. I…. Back when he died I couldn’t lose him Regina you see, I couldn’t, so I preserved his body right before the funeral. His body is intact! I couldn’t bear the thought of him wasting away, it comforted me knowing that the man I loved, the man I remembered was waiting for me to go and see him if I ever felt the need to. Okay I know it sounds weird, it’s not like I was going to exhume him or anything but…” she sighed and stopped.

A few moments of silence passed and Regina’s voice warmed Emma’s soul “You are right. There is a way Emma and I think I know what it is. It’s a long shot but it might work. We have to go back to the Enchanted Forest. Come on, wait for me here, I’ll be back in a minute”

That minute felt like a century for Emma. She passed back and forth in the living room when she heard several footsteps on the stairs. She run at the base and she saw Regina fully dressed now sort of dragging her sister down.

“Could you just let me go?”

“Could you just stop being a petulant child and help me when I ask you to?”

“Are you sure SHE wants my help?”

“If you shut up and not make insensitive remarks, she will shuck it up”

“Hello Emma”

“What’s going on Regina?”

“She will get us to the Enchanted Forest and back. She’ll create a portal for us. Besides sister” Regina said loud and poignantly “it’s your chance to redeem yourself. You took Neal away and now you’re going to bring him back. It’s the least you can do”

“Bring him back? What the hell are you two talking about?”

“I’m not letting her being involved in this in any way Regina, there isn’t a fucking chance.  I know you trust her but if you care for her wellbeing you will keep her away from me”

“Enough! Both of you. Shut it. Zelena will open the portal on our way in, she’ll wait there and then she’ll open it back for us to go back. I will tell you why we’re going there when we are on our mission. Now both of you move, we need to be outside for the portal to work, chop chop” she clapped her hands and pushed both of them outside.


	3. Chapter 3

“Oh good. Same old same old” Regina remarked snarkily upon laying eyes to the familiar landscape. “Emma listen” she said as they were walking in haste.”I’ve figured out why you saw the Dark One’s vault. If your comparison about the Wraith is correct then that key you’re looking for is inside the Vault. That’s why you saw exactly how it opens in your vision.”

“I know Regina, I’ve thought of that as well…” She seemed skeptical.

“What’s wrong?”

“I… I keep thinking of Gold. He is his father Regina, he has been the Dark One long before I have, why on earth didn’t he appear to him? The man loved him so much, he would have done anything for him. And you know very well that’s not even an exaggeration”

“I’m well aware. I don’t know Emma, maybe we’ll get answers when we get down there”

“Oh no, I’m going down there by myself. Trust me. It’s safer. I know exactly what I’m dealing with and you don’t, I’m here to save Neal not you too”

“Fine Swan, fine. But be careful”

“I will” she said as the approached the vault. She stood upon it and observed it for a while. _You don’t scare me motherfucker_. She pressed the symbols in the order she had seen in her vision. The vault opened and she proceeded downstairs. She looked around the room carefully. When nothing caught her eye she tried again and again, focusing more. Somehow she sensed the key would be behind a certain spot on the wall. She pressed around that area and a hidden door appeared. Behind it, there was the key indeed amongst other things. “You’re mine now” she said and put her leather gloves on. She carefully picked it up and applied pressure only at the handle. She ran outside, impatient to get back home.

Suddenly the vault’s door began to close. She heard Regina shouting her name and she ran as fast as she could. Just at the nick of time she managed to jam the key as a stopper. “Let me pass Nimue. I’ve beaten you once I won’t be afraid to do it twice”. The entrance unclenched and Emma jumped out, falling to the ground.

“Watch it!” Regina shouted as she used magic to transport herself and Emma back at the portal. Emma was panting. “What happened?”

“You were this close in joining your beloved and not in a good way. Your knee was about to press one of the symbols”

“We’ve got to stop saving each other from the Dark One’s games”

“Yeah well hopefully our own Dark One will be a happy Dark One soon and there will be no need for him to meddle with us in such ways”

“Have you two finished or do I need to take a nap or something?”

“God Zelena, what did I say about shutting it?”

She rolled her eyes. “Fine. When do you want us to leave my Majesty and the Savior of our town?” she faked curtsied mocking them.

Regina rolled her eyes back. “Sometimes you are insufferable”

“Well that’s why you love me. It takes one to know one”

Regina smiled at that remark. “It’s time to go back” She held both their hands and they jumped at the open portal, landing to Storybrooke.

Emma didn’t look too well. She was exhausted, could barely keep her eyes open. She looked worse than the time she was actually fighting with the Dark One inside her. “Emma, maybe we should take this easy”

“No. In fact “we” aren’t going to do anything. I’m doing this alone. Don’t argue Regina, don’t say a word. I need to do this alone” she said with determination and run as fast as she could to her sheriff’s car. She even put the alarm on even though the chances of her getting cut off on her way to the cemetery were slim.

_I’m coming for you Neal. Just hang in there. Wait for me. I’m coming. I’ll be right there. Hold on._


	4. Chapter 4

When she finally caught view of the cemetery she hit the brakes so hard, the tires screeched and the key fell off the passenger’s seat. “Oh bloody hell, why does everything need to be a pain in the ass?” she exhaled and tried not to be hasty, tried to keep her hand steady. _Come on Emma don’t fuck this up, think of him._ She managed to take the handle and keep her hands steady. Her eyesight was not at its best but she wasn’t prepared to make silly mistakes. _I will try this and then I’ll collapse, I don’t ever care._ She thought of his face. His sunny smile and his kind eyes looking at her with love. “Let’s go” she breathed and got out of the car. She opened the back door and pulled out the shovel she was carrying around. _My dad surely picks the right time to do some gardening._ She half smiled and started walking towards his grave. Her heart was pumping like crazy, her eyes were reddish and sore and she could barely feel her own body. But she would stay focused, she would.

She placed the key carefully down and then mastered all the strength she could gather. _Come on Emma._ She started shoveling on a steady rhythm until she heard the casket being tapped. She tossed the shovel aside, got the key –she had gotten the hang of it by now- and jumped right onto the casket. “Come on Savior don’t let me down” she said and the used her light magic to make the lid disappear. That made her fall abruptly right on top of Neal. _Sweet Neal. My angel._ Thank god she had the common sense of holding up the key making sure it didn’t touch anything. Her other hand was right on his chest, her face was directly above his serene face. “Good lord Emma don’t cry on him, focus” she said out loud and as she was close to him thought he could smell his perfume. _Focus Swan, stop being silly._

She pushed herself up and sat at his thighs. “You would have made a remark about that already” she smiled at him and laughed a bit by herself. She searched for his marked hand carefully with her free hand and when she found it, she tried to match the exact pattern of the key with the print. “Okay done. Now the next step” She took a deep breath, exhaled and held his hand wrapped around the key trying to keep it steady and also trying not to touch any part of the key herself while she would press it. “This is it. Neal….I love you” she whispered and jammed the key in the middle of his chest as steady as could. Her magic run through her veins and a light almost blinded her, she didn’t care, this was taking up all her energy but she didn’t care. After a few moments she stopped. She panted. Kept her eyes closed for a bit and when she opened them nothing seemed to have changed. Neal was still lying there peacefully, only now he had a freaking symbol key glued on his skin for the second time around.

Emma wanted to cry and never stop. No actually she wanted to disappear from this place, this land, this Earth, this universe, this life… She closed her eyes and held her breath. She was exhausted but not only physically. She was exhausted from losing those she loved the most, she was exhausted from losing him over and over again. She sighed deeply and her voice had the gravity of all the weeping women who had ever wept over a loved one’s dead body before her.

“Emma?”

She opened up her fuzzy, weeping eyes.

“Emma is that you?”

She pressed her eyes together and then re-opened them. She wiped her tears away with her free hand to clarify her vision.

“I knew you’d find me Swan. You always do”

There he was. Smiling. Looking at her with his warm chestnut eyes. She was completely frozen.

“What do you say we push that damned thing away ha? Stop pressing it Emma. Baby. Relax.”

His voice was so reassuring. She relaxed the pressure indeed. He then managed to toss it away and with his now free hands he reached out and cupped her face.

“You look so beautiful Emma. I’ve been waiting to see you again for so long. That’s the face I want to look every single day from now on”

Emma cried. She couldn’t help it. She finally broke and let all her emotions flood her. “Oh Neal…You’re really here…”

“Yes I am. Thanks to you love. We always protect each other right?”

Emma laughed while her tears fell on Neal’s chest. Not a scar on him, anywhere. She leaned quickly on him and kissed him forcefully. “Oh god I’ve missed you so much”

“Me too Emma. Me too. What do you say we get out of here and lay on a proper bed? Surrounded by more romantic candles and flowers. Unless you’ve changed kinks, I mean, I can try anything. But it’s broad daylight so… is exhibitionism one of your new founded kinks as well? Hey I’m not judging, I just want to know what to expect”

Emma laughed. “Shut up Cassidy”. She hadn’t even realized they were still inside his grave, she wasn’t aware if it was daytime or nighttime, she wasn’t even sure what day it was. From the moment he spoke her name, everything stood still, time didn’t exist.

“We’ll go now” she said but her body didn’t follow. She collapsed right on top of him. Neal checked her pulse and her breathing. All normal. “My baby is exhausted” he said as he kissed her forehead and caressed her hair tenderly. “Well it’s my turn to be the hero today and carry you home” he joked. “Surprisingly enough I feel quite invigorated for a dead guy”. He managed to stand up, careful not to inconvenience Emma. He got out, squatted and pulled Emma up as gently as he could. Then he placed her body right on his shoulder and with his free hand he picked up the key. ‘Okay Cassidy, time to be the strong badass one over here for once. “One two three” he counted and pushed as hard as he could in order to stand up, carry Emma safely and hold the key steady enough for it to not touch her.

He placed her gently in the passenger’s seat and he got right next to her behind the driving wheel. He placed the key at the bottom of his seat. “Well well…Once touched forever touched I see” He realized the key couldn’t brand him anymore. He was now immune to it. He looked at her lovingly. “We’re going home baby. We’re going to Tallahassee. For real.”


End file.
